India proposes retaliatory duties at WTO against US tariffs on autos
'India reserves the right to suspend concessions or other obligations ... that are substantially equivalent to the adverse effects of the measure to India's trade,' the statement said.
According to the notification, the duty collected by the US would amount to US$725 million and New Delhi will impose an 'equivalent amount of duty collected from products originating in the US'.
India did not specify the tariff rate or which goods it would levy duties on.
India is trying to clinch a trade deal with Washington before a Jul 9 deadline set by US President Donald Trump, after which he has threatened to impose a 26 per cent tariff on all imported Indian goods.
India has signalled it is ready to slash its high tariff rates for the US but has not conceded on Washington's demands for opening up the agriculture and dairy sectors. REUTERS
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Dalai Lama at 90: Amid memories of a thump, a question – what next?
The end draws near for a presence that has been China's most constant headache for nearly seven decades. The Dalai Lama has announced that he will have a successor after his death, continuing a centuries-old tradition that has become a flashpoint in the tussle with China over Tibet's future. It was 2008, and Beijing was all set to showcase its hosting of the Olympic Games, China's coming-out party as it were. With global attention focused on the country, Tibetan protesters resisting Chinese control of their region used the moment to raise awareness of their cause. By April, some 100 of them had died, many setting themselves on fire. Beijing was livid. The Dalai Lama, whose base has been the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala since shortly after fleeing Tibet in 1959 to escape the Chinese occupation of the region, was blamed for instigating the unrest. Then Premier Wen Jiabao denounced him as a 'splittist'.
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Hamas says it responds to Gaza ceasefire proposal in 'a positive spirit'
CAIRO/TEL AVIV: Hamas said it had responded on Friday (Jul 4) in "a positive spirit" to a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal and was prepared to enter into talks on implementing the deal which envisages a release of hostages and negotiations on ending the conflict. US President Donald Trump earlier announced a "final proposal" for a 60-day ceasefire in the nearly 21-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, stating he anticipated a reply from the parties in coming hours. Hamas wrote on its official website: "The Hamas movement has completed its internal consultations as well as discussions with Palestinian factions and forces regarding the latest proposal by the mediators to halt the aggression against our people in Gaza. "The movement has delivered its response to the brotherly mediators, which was characterized by a positive spirit. Hamas is fully prepared, with all seriousness, to immediately enter a new round of negotiations on the mechanism for implementing this framework," the statement said. In a sign of potential challenges still facing the sides, a Palestinian official of a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remain over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing to Egypt and clarity over a timetable of Israeli troop withdrawals. Trump said on Tuesday that Israel had agreed "to the necessary conditions to finalise" a 60-day ceasefire, during which efforts would be made to end the US ally's war in the Palestinian enclave. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to comment on Trump's announcement and in their public statements, the two sides remain far apart. Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the militant group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss. Netanyahu is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday. Trump has said he would be "very firm" with Netanyahu on the need for a speedy Gaza ceasefire while noting that the Israeli leader wants one as well. "We hope it's going to happen. And we're looking forward to it happening sometime next week," he told reporters earlier this week. "We want to get the hostages out." 'STOP THIS WAR' Israeli attacks have killed at least 138 Palestinians in Gaza over the past 24 hours, local health officials said. Health officials at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, said the Israeli military had carried out an airstrike on a tent encampment west of the city around 2am (7am, Singapore time), killing 15 Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war. The Israeli military said troops operating in the Khan Younis area had eliminated militants, confiscated weapons and dismantled Hamas outposts in the last 24 hours, while striking 100 targets across Gaza, including military structures, weapons storage facilities and launchers. Later on Friday, Palestinians gathered to perform funeral prayers before burying those killed overnight. "There should have been a ceasefire long ago before I lost my brother," said 13-year-old Mayar Al Farr as she wept. Her brother, Mahmoud, was shot dead in another incident, she said. "He went to get aid, so he can get a bag of flour for us to eat. He got a bullet in his neck. It killed him on the spot," she said. Adlar Mouamar said her nephew, Ashraf, was also killed in Gaza. "Our hearts are broken. We ask the world, we don't want want them to end the bloodshed. We want them to stop this war." 'MAKE THE DEAL' In Tel Aviv, families and friends of hostages held in Gaza were among demonstrators who gathered outside a US Embassy building on US Independence Day, calling on Trump to secure a deal for all of the captives. Demonstrators set up a symbolic Sabbath dinner table, placing 50 empty chairs to represent those who are still held in Gaza. Banners hung nearby displaying a post by Trump from his Truth Social platform that read, "MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!" The Sabbath, or Shabbat, observed from Friday evening to Saturday nightfall, is often marked by Jewish families with a traditional Friday night dinner. "Only you can make the deal. We want one beautiful deal. One beautiful hostage deal," said Gideon Rosenberg, 48, from Tel Aviv. Rosenberg was wearing a shirt with the image of hostage Avinatan Or, one of his employees who was abducted by Palestinian militants from the Nova musical festival on Oct 7, 2023. He is among the 20 hostages who are believed to be alive after more than 600 days of captivity. Ruby Chen, 55, the father of 19-year-old American-Israeli Itay, who is believed to have been killed after being taken captive, urged Netanyahu to return from meeting with Trump in Washington on Monday with a deal that brings back all hostages. "Let this United States Independence Day mark the beginning of a lasting peace... one that secures the sacred value of human life and one that bestows dignity to the deceased hostages by ensuring their return to proper burial," he said, also appealing to Trump. Itay Chen, also a German national, was serving as an Israeli soldier when Hamas carried out its surprise attack on Oct 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostage. Israel's retaliatory war against Hamas has devastated Gaza, which the militant group has ruled for almost two decades but now only controls in parts, displacing most of the population of more than 2 million and triggering widespread hunger. More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in nearly two years of fighting, most of them civilians, according to local health officials.
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Trump to sign 'big, beautiful' bill on US Independence Day
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump prepared Friday (Jul 4) to sign his flagship tax and spending bill in a pomp-laden Independence Day ceremony featuring fireworks and a flypast by the type of stealth bomber that bombed Iran. Trump pushed Republican lawmakers to get his unpopular "One Big Beautiful Bill" through a reluctant Congress in time for him to sign it into law on the US national holiday, and they did so with a day to spare Thursday. Ever the showman, Trump will now meld a victory lap over the bill, which cements his radical second term agenda, with a grand party at the White House marking 249 years of independence from Britain. Trump announced a signing ceremony at the White House for 4pm (4am, Singapore time) and said pilots who carried out the bombing on Iran were among those who had been invited. Looking jubilant at a rally Thursday in Iowa after the bill passed, Trump said "the age of America is upon us. This is a golden age." The bill, which includes massive new funding for Trump's migrant deportation drive, is the latest in a series of big political wins at home and abroad for the 79-year-old tycoon, and underscores his dominance over both the Republican Party and US politics at large, for now. His administration has meanwhile glossed over deep concerns from his own party and voters that it will balloon the national debt, while simultaneously gutting health and welfare support. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett on Friday rebuffed the criticism, claiming the bill will produce "a real blowout for growth." "Nobody's going to lose their health insurance because of this," Hassett told Fox News, rejecting nonpartisan analyses estimating millions of poor Americans will lose health coverage on the government-funded Medicaid program. First Lady Melania Trump was also set to attend the Independence Day event. The president's wife had told reporters on Thursday that a B-2 bomber, the type of aircraft that bombed Iran's nuclear facilities on June 22, and fighter jets would carry out a flypast for the Jul 4 event. And Trump told the rally-goers in Iowa that the pilots and others who worked on the mission would join him for the festivities. "They're going to be in Washington tomorrow, at the White House, we're going to be celebrating," he said. Deep misgivings Trump forced through the bill despite deep misgivings in the Republican Party, and the vocal opposition of his billionaire former ally, Elon Musk. It squeezed past a final vote in the House of Representatives 218-214 after Republican Speaker Mike Johnson worked through the night to corral the final group of dissenters. The sprawling mega-bill honors many of Trump's campaign promises: boosting military spending, funding a mass migrant deportation drive and committing US$4.5 trillion to extend his first-term tax relief. The legislation is the latest in a series of big wins for Trump, including a Supreme Court ruling last week that curbed lone federal judges from blocking his policies, and the US air strikes that led to a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. But it is expected to pile an extra US$3.4 trillion over a decade onto the US deficit. At the same time it will shrink the federal food assistance program and force through the largest cuts to the Medicaid health insurance scheme for low-income Americans since its 1960s launch. Up to 17 million people could lose their insurance coverage under the bill, according to some estimates. Scores of rural hospitals are expected to close as a result.
